White House Statement on Stone

March 4, 1977

WASHIGTON (Mar. 3)

The White House yesterday quoted National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski as saying that Sen. Richard Stone (D. Fla.) “has not requested anyone transferred or fired” because the Senator thinks they are hostile to Israel. Presidential news secretary Jody Powell quoted Brzezinski after the Jewish Telegraphic Agency asked whether the White Hose’s silence was not putting Stone under a cloud.

Stone earlier said he would not discuss the conversation he had with Brzezinski. The White House had also declined comment following a report in the Washington Post that Stone had supplied a “hit list” of officials he wanted removed. Powell said a “hit list” would constitute a presumption that people would be fired. He noted that he has denied this. Powell said the conversation between Stone and Brzezinski covered all aspects of foreign policy, including the Middle East.

CORRECTION: The Bulletin story in Thursday’s issue on Chaim Herzog’s speech in Chicago inadvertently omitted a line in one quoted remark by the Ambassador. It should have stated, correctly: “Here we have, believe it or not, the incredible prospect of certain Jews here and in Israel in effect advocating coexistence and dialogue with an organization ( the PLO ) which is committed to the elimination of three million Jews and bound by the doctrine of destruction and annihilation enunciated in the Palestine Covenant.”